


Soon Enough

by CoffeeJack



Series: Promises Made After [3]
Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Comfort, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Happy Ending, Hospitals, I promise, Light Angst, Multi, PTSD, Post-Canon, Trauma, Vomit, Withdrawal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-01-24 07:52:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18567088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoffeeJack/pseuds/CoffeeJack
Summary: Finally, the end.





	1. Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> ohhhhhhh bitch this shit is straight POETRY at this point lmaooo
> 
> tumbooo: mister-ingenue

When they woke, there was no song, no poetry, no prose.

They woke up, and it was not beautiful.

It was only the dark, empty hospital room, nightlights sparkling like stars along the footboards as they sat up and looked around.

When they stood, they stood on shaky legs and stumbled to the person most important to them, hands, warm and alive, reaching for the ones they loved.

Bill grasped the footboards of each bed he passed, trying to stay on his feet as he went to Alice, to his daughter.

Deb collapsed into Alice’s bed, curling her arms around her and sobbing, grabbing Bill’s hand and pulling him into the hug as well, and they were a family, united, truly, finally.

Charlotte and Ted staggered into each other's arms, collapsing to the floor and resting against the footboard of her bed.

He watched this, pulling the catheter from his hand as the others had done, swinging his legs over the side of his bed, tensing as a hand, strong from years of playing the piano, came to rest on his back. 

He twisted, his legs drawing back up onto the bed as he took Hidgens’ hand and dragged him into his embrace, pulling him down to sit on the bed with him.

He could feel Hidgens shake as he began to sob, hands desperately grasping his back, soft whispers of “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” poured cracked and broken from his lips.

When the door opened and light poured in, it was beautiful.

When the nurse stepped into the room, she shrieked, bolting from the room, locking the door behind her.

They flinched, the slamming of the door ear-splitting after the silence.

Pounding footsteps approached, muffled shouting preceding it.

“Do not let them in! Only medical staff and officers are allowed in the room! Remus- keep them out!”

Colonel Schaffer threw the door open and hit the switch, fluorescent lights and humming filling the room.

“If I tell you to get back into your beds, are you going to cooperate or do I have to get the guards to force you?”

“Touch me, and I’ll kill you.” Ted snarled, rough voice muffled on Charlotte’s shoulder.

Schaffer sighed. “Fine. Just get into a bed. Any of them.”

Charlotte gently pulled Ted to his feet, and together they piled into her bed, glaring daggers at Schaffer.

“Good. Nurses are going to come in and look you all over. You’re now officially in quarantine, and you will only be seeing myself, guards, and medical staff for the next 5 days.”

“Go fuck yourself, Schaffer,” Paul snapped, “where the fuck is Emma.”

“She’s currently trying to get past my guards. She will not be succeeding, and both you and her will have to wait 5 more days to see each other.”

Paul laughed, a low huff as he whispered through cracked lips. “Have you told her that yet?”

“No.” 

Something slammed against the door. 

Emma’s voice sounded outside the room. They could hear her shrieking, yelling at Remus to let her go, to let her in, to let her see him.

Her voice grew softer as she was dragged away from the door.

Paul dropped out of the bed, detangling himself from Hidgens and collapsing to the floor. Ted and Hidgens both reached down to help him stand, pulling him up onto shaky legs. He stumbled toward the door, pushing Schaffer aside.

Then she grabbed him.

Her hand clamped down on his shoulder and he froze, all the air rushing from him in a whoosh as he dropped to the ground, shaking hard.

Hands landed on his arms, his neck, the back of his head, his legs, his sides.

Someone was shouting at Schaffer.

He couldn’t hear it around the cotton in his ears, his head foggy and dense.

The hands lifted him, his weight dispersed amongst weak grips.

They carried him to the bed and set him down, Charlotte releasing his arms and standing with Ted, slipping her hand into his as he shouted at Schaffer.

Alice’s hand slipped off the back of his neck as Deb let go of his legs, and the piled onto the end of his bed.

Bill’s hand was warm on the back of his head, hands that moved to his leg as he sat between where Paul was curled up against the pillow, and Alice at the foot of the bed.

Hidgens' hands left his sides when he pressed against Paul’s right, tugging him into an embrace, icy glare leveled at Schaffer.

Schaffer was not expecting resistance, clearly. 

Her hands came up in front of her as she tried to make Ted calm down.

“Sir, this is completely inappropriate- you need to calm down.”

Ted did not calm down. 

Ted’s voice, as rough as it was, only rose in volume, his grip on Charlotte tightening.

Schaffer set her shoulders and slipped past Ted.

She opened the door and stepped out, calling to the guards around the door. “No one in or out. Keep the door locked. Quarantine starts now.”

“Coward!” Ted yelled after her. 

The door shut and locked, Schaffer never looking back.

He swayed on his feet and staggered to the bed, grasping Charlotte desperately.

They collapsed in with everyone else, pressing against Paul and Bill as Ted tried to breathe through the dizziness that had come after shouting.

His breathing slowed as he fell asleep. Charlotte curled up under his arm, her head on his chest as she followed him into unconsciousness.

Alice and Deb did the same, arms and legs tangled together. 

Bill lay in the last bit of unoccupied space, smiling softly as his breathing evened and slowed.

Hidgens’ arms tightened around Paul as he murmured apologies to him.

Paul nodded, shrinking deeper into his embrace, words not forthcoming as he and Hidgens drifted to sleep.

And then all of them, this family found, split, and found again, differently, were together in sleep, together on this hospital bed on this military base.

And they were happy.

Or rather, they would be.

Soon enough.


	2. Dusk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally, finally, finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took me 2 days to write bc im bad at writing Soft i can only write Sad,,, i had like 40 words left to write in this chapter and i stopped to write some Sad,,,, which y'all might see somewhere later despite it having Nothing to do with the plot

They did not wake up when the whispers started outside the door. 

They did not wake up when it was unlocked.

They did not wake up when it opened, and 3 people stepped in.

Oliver closed the door quietly behind him and Melissa as Emma rushed the bed.

“Paul!” She hissed, keeping her voice as low as possible.

He roused, jerking in Hidgens’ arms.

He tilted dangerously toward the edge of the bed, Emma’s name a gasp as he fell toward her.

She caught him in her arms, pressing against him and crawling into the bed, pushing Paul back onto the bed as Hidgens helped pull him.

He murmured, apologies spilling from his lips like blood as she buried her face in his neck, shaking hard.

Oliver and Melissa moved around the bed to Hidgens’ side, gently touching his arms, his hands, his legs.

Hidgens smiled softly, reaching out to them, his friends, his family.

“You aren’t supposed to be here- how’d you get in?” Paul whispered against the side of Emma’s head, grip around her not loosening. He would not lose her. Not again.

“Schaffer set Remus as the only guard outside.”

“I threatened him.” Melissa, practically in Hidgens’ lap, gestured to the bat she’d set by the door.

“He let us in if we promised not to tell Schaffer or cause a problem.” Oliver, laying fully on top of Hidgens legs, carefully avoided bumping Charlotte and Ted as he shifted.

“How long is the quarantine? She never actually told us.”

“5 days.”

“She didn’t want us to meet for 5 days? Christ- how’d she think we’d be ok with this shit?” Melissa’s hands gently curled through Oliver’s hair as she spoke.

“I don’t think she cared.” Ted, arms around Charlotte, was apparently not asleep. “Hey, Melissa- good to see you again.” 

“Hi, Ted- Charlotte doing ok?” 

“She’s out- you didn’t wake her up when you came in.”

Charlotte murmured in her sleep, curling closer to Ted.

“She’s probably gonna put everyone in isolation honestly- immediately discharging everyone didn’t work fully last time so she’ll want to try something new.” 

“I’m not going through that again. I already had to with you, it’s not happening.” Melissa’s voice was soft, but there was a steely determination underneath. 

Shit then veered sharply toward the fan.

The door exploded open, cracking against the wall, Schaffer silhouetted in the dark doorway by the cruel fluorescent hall lights.

She stepped into the room, Remus, eyes panicked mouthing “I’m sorry,” over her shoulder.

Her gaze, ice cold and unrelenting, locked onto Emma, Melissa, and Oliver.

“Ms. Perkins, you were told not to-”

“Schaffer, at this point I could not give less of a shit what you say.”

She sighed heavily. “Fine,” she snapped. “It’s clear you aren’t going to listen to me, and this is not the first time you’ve blatantly disobeyed-”

“We aren’t your fucking soldiers! We are civilians- you have no right to order us around!” Melissa, still on Hidgens, hands still in Oliver’s hair, snarled.

“I am in charge of this base! You are under my authority while I rehabilitate your friends. What I say, goes. They-” she gestured at the 7 of them“-are going into isolated quarantine.”

“No.” Paul pressed closer to Hidgens, arms around Emma, voice no louder than a whisper. “I’m not going into isolation. I can’t be alone.”

“You put them in quarantine, I’m going to break in and destroy as much shit as I can, every single day. That, I can promise you, Schaffer.” Emma’s voice was hard, daring Schaffer to challenge her, promising a fight if she does.

“You know what? Fine. You deal with them then. If an outbreak occurs, you get to take responsibility.” She turned on her heel and slammed the door behind her, Remus scrambling to get out of the way of her fury.

Charlotte, Bill, Deb, and Alice didn’t stir. They were far too deeply asleep to be woken by shouting or slamming doors.

Emma huffed, going limp against Paul. “I’m not leaving you again.”

He nodded against her head, humming his agreement.

She smelled like the shitty provided shampoo. She smelled like coffee. She smelled like dryer sheets and soap. She smelled like Emma.

She smelled like home.

She smelled like home.

She smelled like home.

He was home.

Finally.

Tears forced themselves from his eyes as he crumbled.

“Paul?”

His arms withdrew from her, his hands pressing to his face as he tried desperately to suppress his tears.

The bed shifted, and Emma’s hands, soft and small, touched his wrists, tugging.

He let her pull his hands from his face.

He kept his eyes lowered, fixed on the bed as tears poured down his face.

“It’s ok.” Hidgens’ weak voice accompanied an arm wrapping around him.

“Let go, Paul, you’re safe. You’re home.” Melissa’s hand rested on his leg.

And so he did.

A soft cry escaped him as he shattered, splintering like glass as everything he’d pent up, bundled away and pushed aside came out as his walls collapsed.

Arms curled around him, like blankets over broken glass, smothering the pain in their love.

Paul let himself be comforted as he sobbed out his agony, his fear, and his guilt.

They held him as Charlotte, Bill, Alice, and Deb slept on.

Ted reached out his free arm, patting Paul’s foot gently, comforting him in his own way.

Hidgens’ left hand squeezed Paul’s bicep as he drew him closer, pressing a kiss to his temple. 

Oliver huffed softly, his arms curling into his chest as he dozed, Melissa’s hands soft and warm in his hair.

Melissa set her head on Hidgens’ shoulder, eyes closing as she leaned against him.

Emma pressed against his chest, fingers gently playing with his hair, murmuring comforting words.

He wasn’t crying as hard anymore.

His arms loosened around Emma, again whispering an apology to her.

“Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

At the foot of the bed, Alice sighed, holding Deb tighter.

“There is not enough space on this bed for 10 people,” Emma said. 

“Nope,” Hidgens said, softly.

“I’m not moving though.”

“Oliver and Melissa are literally on top of me Emma. I’m not going anywhere.”

She laughed, low and soft.

He was home.

He was happy.

He was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh savor this soft bc you know chapter 4 is gonna take a bat your happiness


	3. Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhghguhg colonel im trying to write happy but im dummy sad and the clap of my brain cells keep alerting my writing
> 
> you know what this is at this point: mister-ingenue

They were in quarantine for 5 days, as Schaffer had promised. Emma, Oliver, and Melissa were with them more often than not.

The evening of day 5 brought Colonel Schaffer, in all her strict glory, marching into the room.

“Your quarantine is over, you have all been cleared. This brings us to the issue of room assignments. There are 2 barrack quarters with locking doors, as you know. Fortunately, there is an even split of you all. Ladies, you will all use the barracks on the left side of the hall. Gentlemen, you will use the barrack space immediately across, on the right side of the hall.”

They looked around at each other.

“Schaffer, what the fuck?”

“Excuse me?”

“Are you serious? Why the fuck would we be split up like that? I get it, each barrack has like, 6 beds, but like, why would you do it by gender?” Emma said, incredulously. 

“Yes, well, now there are enough of you to actually apply base regulations, regulations that keep anything from happening.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Melissa spoke up.

“The genders are to be kept separate, for starters. If I could, I’d have you separated on the basis of age as well. Doors are to be locked every night and lights go out at 10. The door is required to stay open if someone of the opposite sex goes into the other barrack.” 

“Jesus Christ.” Emma did not sound pleased. 

“Schaffer…” Paul’s voice trailed off.

“You realize we’re gay right?” Alice said, Deb’s head resting on her shoulder as Alice leaned back against her.

“Same.” Oliver and Melissa piped up.

“Bi over here,” Dia said.

“Pan over here,” Danny said.

“We aren’t separating,” Ted said. Charlotte nodded next to him on the bed.

“Hell no Schaffer- you already tried that one with us, remember?” Melissa gestured at Oliver.”

“She broke 2 separate doors and broke someone’s nose with her bat.” He reminded her.

“Schaffer, I literally broke in here at 3:30 in the morning, why the fuck do you think putting us in separate rooms would stop that?” Emma.

“I’d much rather stay with Melissa and Oliver, honestly.” Hidgens.

“I’m not leaving my daughter again.” Bill.

“Do you always have to make things hard?” Schaffer’s hand pinched the bride of her nose.

“Only when things are bullshit.” Paul didn’t snap at Schaffer often, but there was only so far she could push them before they called her out on it.

“Christ. I’m going to go talk to the base council. You all get out of here. Pick a room- I don’t care anymore.” And then she left.

Dia laughed as she left. “You know, she’s eventually just gonna kick us off the base.”

Her brother grinned at her. “Probably.”

Nurses entered, wary, removing the IVs from their hands and mopping up the blood- both red and blue- before leaving again.

Remus came in immediately after the nurses left. “Ok, so I’m supposed to take everyone to the barracks…”

They clamored out of the beds, joints popping, thankful for the thick hospital pajamas they’d been given; and followed Remus down the hall.

“Ok so here are the barracks- they only sleep 6 each, so I hope you’ve decided where you’re going to be.”

Paul, Emma, Hidgens, Melissa, and Oliver kept their old room on the right side of the hallway. Now, however, they were joined by Danny. He didn’t seem excited to leave his sister, but she’d grown close to Alice and Deb when she visited them in quarantine.

“Ok technically, the doors need to be locked before you go to bed, but nobody’s in this part of the base usually, and nobody really cares about that, so it won’t really matter if it’s unlocked or not.”

“Thank you, Remus.” Charlotte’s voice was soft. She was wary around Remus, but she was getting better now that she saw he wasn’t a colossal dick.

“I’ll let you guys get settled in- I’ll see if I can bring by a fern or something as a housewarming gift,” he said, laughing.

“Hell yeah, houseplants,” Melissa said, bumping open the door to their room and stepping inside. “It’ll really help with the whole ‘secret sect of the military base’ vibe.”

He laughed, then said “oh shit! Schaffer said you all need to go back to medical first thing tomorrow- a post-discharge eval or something.”

“How first thing?”

“Very- they’re checking to see when you’ll go into full withdrawal- you and Hidgens remember- you both got crazy sick when it hit.”

“Damn, ok.”

Everyone had dispersed into their barracks at this point, but Hidgens came back to the doorway, leaning against it. 

“Do you think they’ll try and trigger it again? Try and set us all off at once to get it over with?”

“Honestly? Schaffer plays at being the head doctor here, so she’s in charge of the eval. So yes, she’ll almost definitely trigger it.”

“She’s just… the worst.”

“Legally I can’t agree but…” he shrugged, communicating a clear belief in that Schaffer is the worst. “Anyway. I gotta get going- stuff I still need to do.”

“Night Remus!” Oliver called from inside the room. 

Hidgens held the door for Paul and Emma as they entered. “This is staying unlocked right?” He said, hand on the lock itself.

“Of course!” Oliver chirped.

And so the door, and the door across the hall, remained unlocked.

When they settled, moonlight slithered thought the high windows, casting white light on the far wall.

They settled, curling into beds and around others, nightlights between each bed sparkling in the gloom.

With morning came light spilling in through the high windows. 

With morning came footsteps in the hallway.

With morning came a soft knocking at the door.

With morning came a slow rise into awareness.

And with morning, came dread.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK LOOK I KNOW THIS ONE WASN'T GREAT I AGREE IT'S NOT IT'S JUST A FILLER BUT CH4 IS GONNA BE REALLY GOOD I PROMISE


	4. Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The darkest hour may be just before dawn, but it was never supposed to end up like this…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite chapter I've ever written was What Comes After's chapter 4, but ohhhhBOY this is a close second!! Also- it's pretty long, so bonus!
> 
> Come scream at me: mister-ingenue

Like with any withdrawal, everyone has different symptoms that set in at different times. Sometimes the withdrawal is triggered, brought forth by an outside factor.

Schaffer, for example, was attempting to trigger as many reactions as she could.

She had explained that she would like to set off the symptoms, preferring to get them over with in a controlled setting, rather than a random situation.

Paul and Hidgens were first, their symptoms predictable.

She sent the others to wait in groups outside, Ted, Charlotte and Bill, and Alice and Deb, each group with assigned non-infected, Dia and Danny for Alice and Deb, and Melissa and Oliver for Ted, Charlotte and Bill.

Paul and Hidgens had Emma. 

Schaffer directed Hidgens and Paul to the bathroom, knowing full well that their symptoms would be sickness, as it was before.

“Emma, as the one they trust, you get to help them through their symptoms.”

“So you want me to force my friends into panic and illness?”

“Yes, effectively.” Schaffer passed Emma a tablet as she exited the room. “There are nurses outside, should they be needed.”

Emma heaved a sigh and Paul watched her eyes rove the room, taking in 7 beds, IV drips, gauze and a sharps bin, a sink and an opened container of capped number 23 disposable scalpels, and a massive box of bandaids. 

Emma and Paul joined Hidgens on the floor of the bathroom.

“Who wants to go first?”

“I don’t want to go at all,” Paul said, head resting against the wall behind him.

“We share the sentiment then.”

“Well, one of you has to go. Hidgens, come here- your puking was pretty limited before, only once or twice before it was just nausea- so I'm nominating you to go first.”

He made a disgusted noise but nevertheless came to rest in front of Emma. “Do what you’re going to-”

Emma interrupted him. She shoved her hand against his stomach as she hissed “hey, Henry.”

His face went pale. Then he turned and heaved, shaking.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Emma rubbed his back until his heaving subsided.

“I am… so scared of what you’re going to do to me.”

“You probably should be,” she said. “I think that’s all for him. It should just be nausea and headaches from here on out. Hopefully. Here, help me get him to the bed.”

They tugged Hidgens, wheezing and pale and shaking, upright. They kept him steady and got him into bed, calling in one of the nurses to check on him. 

Unfortunately, they’d all have to stay for a few hours, or at least until their symptoms lessened. 

When the nurse left the room again, Emma and Paul moved back into the bathroom. 

“Ok. Do it.”

Emma picked up the tablet Schaffer had given her. She hit the power button, flipping through it until she found what she wanted.

“There are... cameras in basically every room. There’s security footage. Um… It’s- it’s footage of you, and I don’t want to use it to trigger this, but I don’t know what else to do so-”

He took the tablet from her hand, thumbed the volume as high as it would go, and hit play.

The video had been cut down, of course.

The first notes, warbling then evening out, becoming a flow of words, of the song with the unheard melody. 

“Emma… I’m sorry… you lost…”

The tablet fell and shattered on the cold tile of the bathroom.

Paul collapsed, knees cracking against the floor, vision blurry and blue around the edges, nails digging into the icy porcelain as he vomited, blue blood dripping down his chin.

Emma, tense, strong Emma, wiped his face with a wet rag, murmuring to him. 

All he could hear was the ringing in his ears.

When he finally stopped heaving, Emma helped him stand. 

He staggered and fell into the bed next to Hidgens, hazy and exhausted when Alice, Deb, Dia, and Danny entered the room. Emma clambered onto the end of his bed, eyes far away and guilt-ridden.

Paul faded to sleep, blinking awake when Deb stormed past his bed, pulling a dazed Alice behind her. Dia calling in a nurse, Danny patting Emma’s shoulder as he went to his sister’s side.

When Deb, whose symptoms ended up just being anger and hand tremors, and Alice, who was exhausted but couldn’t fall asleep, were settled, the last group came in.

Paul felt dizzy. This was the second time he was going through this, and it didn’t get any better from the first time. 

Bill was first in their group. He watched the security footage through the broken screen of the tablet. His jaw tensed, his breathing sped up as he picked at his nails. Without a word, he took the bed next to Alice, eyes tinted blue.

Ted and Charlotte watched the video together.

Charlotte’s symptoms were not triggered.

Ted’s were.

His nose gushed blue blood, splashing down his front and slightly onto Charlotte’s hands, his own hands coming up as he gasped, bolting to the bathroom to hack into the sink.

Melissa passed Ted tissues in the bathroom, helping him manage the flow of blood, while Charlotte washed her hands of Ted’s blue blood in the sink of the storage section of the room.

“Charlotte, while you’re near the sink, just in case you start bleeding or puke, I think I know what might work…” 

She nodded, drying her hands on a paper towel and tossing it into the trash can. “Go ahead then.”

Paul scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, the dizziness starting to subside.

He looked up to see Oliver’s eyes locked with Charlotte’s.

“Who’s Sam?”

Charlotte went very, very still.

The room sucked in a breath and Charlotte lunged.

She had a scalpel in her hand, the cap skittering across the floor as she shrieked and slashed at Oliver, eyes blue, darkly tinted tears rolling down her face.

The blade connected. It sunk into the skin below his left collar bone dragged down and across, tearing through flesh and fabric, blood gushing and staining the blade, his shirt, his torn, destroyed binder. 

Oliver screamed, trying desperately to stem the blood oozing from his chest, trying desperately to save his ruined binder, trying desperately to avoid being cut again.

He scrambled back, trays and spare IV poles clattering to the ground, his glasses slipping from his face and shattering.

Ted and Melissa rushed from the bathroom as Paul shoved himself off the bed, putting himself between Charlotte and Emma.

Melissa scooped an IV pole from the floor, kicking off the base and whirling before she planted her feet and cracked Charlotte across the head with it.

She dropped, Ted rushing to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Oliver?”

Oliver, pale and shaking, kept his hands pressed to his chest, blood oozing between his fingers. 

“I’m ok…” he mumbled, then collapsed.

“Oliver!”

He hit the ground, Melissa not fast enough to catch him.

She screamed for the nurses, for help, for anyone. 

She pulled his shoulders into her lap, sobbing above him, her hands stained both red from him and blue from helping Ted.

She knew her hands were stained with infection. She couldn’t help him, she couldn’t stem the blood, couldn’t press her hands to the wound.

Paul crouched next to his head, helpless and scared, clutching at Emma.

Oliver wheezed, panicked. “I don’t want to die…” he choked, hands covered in blood and grasping up at Melissa.

She sobbed harder. There was nothing she could do. 

The nurses exploded into the room, shepherding people back, away from Oliver, lifting and restraining Charlotte in her own bed.

They pulled at Melissa, dragging her kicking and screaming away from Oliver.

The nurses flooded around him, pushing Paul and Emma away, shoving Melissa into their hands and barking at them to hold her, to keep her restrained, to keep her away from Oliver.

Their hands were everywhere, surrounding Oliver.

They could hear him, shrieking at the nurses.

“Stop it! Please! No! No please, don't! It hurts, please!” His voice dissolved into hitching sobs.

Melissa writhed in Paul and Emma’s grip, begging them to let her go, to save him, begging the nurses to stop, to stop because they were hurting him.

Schaffer entered the room, snapping at them to get her under control, to make her stop screaming.

They pulled her to Hidgens, weak and sick, passing her over to him. He took her in his arms, pulling her to him, whispering that he’d be ok, Charlotte hadn’t cut him deep enough to kill him, he’d need a transfusion, he would be ok. He would be ok.

She didn’t stop crying. She couldn’t, because this was Oliver.

Emma pulled Paul onto the end of Hidgens’ bed, sitting out of the way of the nurses.

The nurses lifted Oliver, moving him to what was Paul’s bed.

Nurses, 4 of them and Schaffer, moved in a team, efficient, fluid, gathering gauze and bandages, holding Oliver down while they applied pressure to the gash across his chest, pressing an oxygen mask to his face, calling out codes and instructions to each other, cutting away the rest of his shirt and binder, wiping away blood, all with cold precision and determination.

The syringe sparkled as it slipped into his arm, and his movements slowed, and he went still and quiet.

Schaffer clicked her bloody fingers at one of the nurses, “start writing the report. 12034, oxygen mask applied. You-” she snapped at a different nurse, “get a transfusion ready. And you- get the sutures ready.”

The 3 nurses scampered off, the 1 nurse left kept pressure on the wound. 

His eyes rolled, looking, but not seeing, the room around him. 

“Melissa…” his voice rasped, muffled behind the mask.

“Oliver!” Melissa was out of Hidgens’ arms before he could stop her, Schaffer stepping out of the way.

The nurse glanced up at her, then went back to her work.

“Melissa… I don’t want to die…”

“You’re not. You’re going to be fine. I promise. I promise you, you will be ok.”

“Melissa…” He looked up at her and his eyes locked with hers. His hand lifted, weakly, and Melissa slipped her hand into his. “I don’t want to become a fucking tragedy.”

Schaffer set her hand on Melissa’s shoulder. 

“We have to apply the sutures.”

She nodded, gingerly slipping her hand from Oliver’s, setting his hand gently back onto the bed.

They took her back onto the bed, Paul tugging her under his arm. “He’s going to be ok,” he whispered.

Melissa murmured back, eyes on Oliver, watching the needle pull the thread in and out of his skin, “it’s going to be ok.”

“It’s going to be ok. I promise, Melissa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kids these days can't even handle getting slashed with a little knife,,, back in my day, we'd slash at each other with knives FOR FUN and we LIKED IT and we were GRATEFUL


	5. Sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At last, at last, at last, the sun will rise and we will continue on. My love, continue on. My darling, continue on. Continue on because it will be ok. It will be ok. I promise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK I KNOW I LEFT YALL HANGING FOR A REALLY LONG TIME IM SO SORRY  
> ENJOY
> 
> tumgle: dad-time ((it isn't mister-ingenue anymore, I know, wild))

Oliver, numb and drugged out, was quiet as he was being stitched up.

He was quiet when they slipped the catheter into his arm, setting up the flow of blood.

He was quiet when they clipped the heart monitor around his finger.

He was quiet when the others were expelled from the room, Danny pulling at Deb and Alice and Dia to try and get to him, to get to Oliver. 

He was quiet when the door slammed shut, and they stayed.

He was quiet when the nurses sponged the blood from the line of sutures that ran down and across his chest.

He was quiet when they coiled the bandages around him, covering the wound with gauze.

He was quiet when tears started rolling down Emma’s face. 

She swapped places with Melissa, Paul’s arms around her as she sobbed.

Emma touched Hidgens’ hand, both of them watching the nurses as they drew the bandages around him. 

“I’m sorry about…” she trailed off, gesturing to his stomach.

“It’s ok- the withdrawal had to be triggered, and I wouldn’t have wanted to find out what Schaffer would’ve done if you hadn’t.”

“I still feel bad about it though…”

“Don’t,” He said, pulling her closer to him, pressing a soft kiss to her temple.

Shaffer taped down the last of the bandages. She washed her hands and sent the nurses from the room, instructing them to update the others, that Oliver would be fine, that he was going to be ok.

She turned back to the group, drying her hands. 

“Keep the mask on him.”

Then she left the room, carefully picking up the abandoned scalpel from where it had fallen from Charlotte’s grasp, white coat breezing behind her as she walked.

They leaped from the bed, falling over each other in their haste to get to Oliver’s side. 

Oliver, who was still breathing through the oxygen mask.

Oliver, who’s blood dried across his skin.

Oliver, who had his most precious thing, his binder, ruined.

Oliver, who watched them through hazy and unfocused eyes.

Oliver, the strongest of them all, but who was still so, so young.

Melissa took hold of the sheets piled at the end of the bed, gently pulling them up to his shoulders, covering the blood, the bandages, the hurt. 

His lips moved behind the mask, Melissa’s name just visible.

“You’re going to be ok,” Melissa said, voice low and teary.

Emma scrubbed the tears from her eyes and set her shoulders. “Paul? Can we talk?”

Paul set his hand on Melissa’s back, next to Hidgens’ on her shoulder. “We’ll be right back, ok?”

She nodded, not looking up at them, not taking her eyes off Oliver.

They slipped from the room, walking down the hallway a bit.

Emma took a deep breath and rounded on Paul.

“So the offer for the silent movie still stands.” Her face was red, and she avoided his eyes.

“Oh.” Paul was not entirely expecting this. He was pretty sure he was prepared for this, if he was being honest with himself, which he wasn’t.

“Like… like a date?”

“Yeah - like a date, Paul. I think I’m a little bit past the point of saying I like-like you,” she said, still not meeting his eyes. 

Paul, not lying to himself anymore, was not prepared for this. 

But who was, really? Who was ever prepared for love?

“I still really, really like you, Emma, just… platonically.”

“Oh. Ok.” She paused, contemplating. “Have you heard of a QPR?”

This was even less expected. 

“Yes… oh!”

“Yeah.” She took his hands, finally meeting his eyes.

“Paul, I love you. Will you be my QPR?”

He tightened his hands around hers.

“Only if I can kiss you first.”

She nodded, a soft smile playing across her lips, her eyes sparkling.

He cupped her face in his hands, his long fingers shifting gently over her cheeks. 

He leaned down and-

“Hey, guys?”

Remus had approached, trying not to startle them. 

He didn’t succeed, and Emma and Paul both jumped at the sound of his voice.

Emma reluctantly pulled herself from Paul’s hands, turning to face Remus.

“I can come back if you want me to?”

“Nah, you’re good,” Emma said.

“Ok so- everyone’s doing ok, Charlotte got sick but is otherwise just guilty.”

Emma nodded, noticing the embellishments on his uniform for the first time.

“Those look new.”

“I was promoted. I’m now head of the Hatchetfield division of PEIP. It’s a pretty far cry from Beanie’s, huh?”

“God, no kidding. How the hell’d you go from new recruit to head honcho so fast?”

“Out of everyone they got off the island, I was the least traumatized. And I grew up bouncing around bases, so all this,” he gestured around him, “is pretty familiar to me.”

“Seems fair enough to me- Schaffer have anything to say about it?”

“She was reassigned- not sure where- but apparently triggering a group of wounded civilians who could potentially be hostiles isn’t technically ethical, so the position opened up pretty quickly.”

“Thank god, I hated her.”

“I did too,” He waved his hands, “anyway- I did come down here with a reason. The land in Colorado- the 5 acres- is still open to you Ms. Perkins,” Remus said, a knowing smile on his face. 

“I might actually take you up on that one soon.”

Remus flashed a thumbs up at Emma, beaming at them, before turning and continuing down the hallway.

Emma turned back to him. “Anyway…”

He took her face in his hands again, and finally, finally, he kissed her.

She tasted like chapstick and bitter coffee and the toothpaste provided by the base. 

She tasted like moonlight and a slow dance and like home.

When he pulled away - just centimeters - she breathed against his lips.

“Colorado?”

“Colorado,” He agreed, pulling her back to him.

It was a while before they returned to the room, but when they did, Oliver was sitting up in bed, watching Danny and Melissa, who leaned on one another over the armrests of their chairs, asleep.

He looked up when they came in, smiling, and waved them over.

Emma sat on the bed next to him. “Have they left at all?” She kept her voice as soft as she could.

Paul sat behind Emma on the bed, his arms folding over her shoulders around her, pressing a kiss to the back of her head.

“Nope.”

The door opened again.

Hidgens, entering with a clean shirt and jacket, presumably for Oliver, set them down, grabbing the blanket folded on the bed to Oliver’s left, shaking it out and draping it over Melissa and Danny.

He sat down on the end of Oliver’s bed, patting his leg. “Feeling any better?”

“A bit. Is Charlotte ok?”

Paul responded, his voice muffled, “she’s doing better. She got really sick after- puking y’ know? She feels terrible about what happened.”

“I don’t blame her. Not at all. I was... kind of aggressive in my withdrawal too. Not like that, but close enough. I get it. All’s forgiven.”

“She’ll be happy to hear that.” 

“Are y’all together yet?”

“Queerplatonic partners,” Emma said, reaching up to pat Paul’s hair.

“Congrats!”

Paul tucked his face into the crook of Emma’s neck. She smelled like the shitty provided shampoo. She smelled like coffee. She smelled like dryer sheets and soap. She smelled like her. She smelled like love itself, like family and like truth. Because she was Emma. 

Because she was Emma, and he loved her.

He loved her, and she loved him, and that was all.  
And thus, they were happy. 

Paul and Emma, in love, were happy. Hidgens and Melissa, safe and loved, were happy. Danny and Oliver, in the throes of young love, were happy. Ted and Charlotte, Bill and Alice and Deb and Dia were happy, because they were safe, they were whole, and they were surrounded by love and family and friends.

They were happy, because they knew.

They knew they would survive.

They knew there would be a happy ending.

They knew they would be ok. 

Because after this night full of nightmares and things hiding in the dark corners, waiting to lunge out at you, you look out the window and there is light as far as you can see, and you can feel the warmth rising in your chest at the same pace at which the sun rises. And you know. You know it will be ok because the track skips and the sun sets, but the song will continue, and the sun will rise.

Because after all, I promised you, didn’t I?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's over! That's all for this specific story!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH for reading a sticking with me - I hope you guys liked this story!

**Author's Note:**

> OK SO here's the PLAN: I'm going to finish this story (5 chapters like the rest) AND THEN I'm going to take What Comes After and this one, Soon Enough, and add them to I promise, so it will be 1, 15 chapter, story. I'm also, between each story section, putting an "interlude" that remmikub wrote ((they already have 1 done and posted - go read it!!!!)) between I Promise and What Comes After, and another between WCA and Soon Enough-- that's the plan rn but if you have suggestions, ideas, or things you'd like to see, tell me!!! OH ALSO if you wanna write your own interlude, I'll put in multiple people's stories into one V. long 'chapter' thing-- message me, comment or dm me through tumblr (mister-ingenue) if you're interested!!!


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